Best PlacesMiddle Grove, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Middle Grove, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Middle Grove ranks 38,989th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Middle Grove
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Middle Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Middle Grove ranks high
- Cheap childcare$394 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 66% of towns
Where Middle Grove ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Middle Grove
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Middle Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,503, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Middle Grove's effective rate of 0.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Middle Grove
Middle Grove runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Middle Grove.
Who works in Middle Grove, and how
Work in Middle Grove centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Middle Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Middle Grove.
What the weather is like in Middle Grove, month by month
Middle Grove sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 65° | 52° | 43° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Middle Grove
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Middle Grove
Schools across Middle Grove average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Centralia IntermediateB · 45% proficient
- Middle Grove Elem.B− · 42% proficient
- Madison Elem.C− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moberly MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Chester Boren MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Sturgeon MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Centralia HighB · 50% proficient
- Paris HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Sturgeon HighC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Middle Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Middle Grove measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Middle Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Middle Grove
Is Middle Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Middle Grove ranks 38,989th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Middle Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,681. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $61,503 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Middle Grove safe?
Yes, Middle Grove is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Middle Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Middle Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Middle Grove represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Middle Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Middle Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Middle Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Middle Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Middle Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Middle Grove detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.